APG-65, APG-73, and APG-79 radars

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

AN/APG-73 radar installed in an F/A-18 aircraft

AN/APG-65, AN/APG-73 and AN/APG-79 are designations for a family of all-weather multimode airborne radar systems designed by Hughes Aircraft (now Raytheon) for the F/A-18 Hornet and used on a variety of fighter aircraft types.

These I band (8 to 12 GHz) pulse-Doppler radar systems are designed for both air-to-air and air-to-surface missions. For air-to-air operations they incorporate a variety of search, track and track-while-scan modes to give the pilot a complete look-down/shoot-down capability. Air-to-surface modes include Doppler beam sharpened sector and patch mapping, medium range synthetic aperture radar, fixed and moving ground target track and sea surface search. In the F/A-18, the radar is installed in a slide-out nose rack to facilitate maintenance.

1 AN/APG-65
2 AN/APG-73
3 AN/APG-79
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] AN/APG-65

The APG-65 was developed in the late 1970s and has been operational since 1983. The radar includes a velocity search (to provide maximum detection range capability against nose aspect targets), range-while-search (to detect all-aspect targets), track-while-scan (which, when combined with an autonomous missile such as AIM-120, gives the aircraft a launch-and-leave capability), single target track, gun director and rapid assessment (which enables the operator to expand the region centred on a single tracked target, permitting radar separation of closely spaced targets) operating modes.

Although no longer in production, the APG-65 remains in service in F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters of the U.S. Navy & Marine Corps, and the air forces of Canada, Australia, Kuwait, and Spain. It has also been adapted to upgrade the German and Greek F-4 Phantom aircraft, and the AV-8B+ Harrier II for the U.S. Marine Corps and the Spanish and Italian navies.

[edit] AN/APG-73

The APG-73 is a late 1980s upgrade of the APG-65 for higher processor throughput, greater memory capacity, bandwidth, frequency agility, higher analogue/digital sampling rates, improved reliability and easier maintenance. To reduce production costs, many of the upgraded radar's modules are common with the APG-70 (F-15) radar. When fitted with a motion-sensing subsystem and stretch waveform generator and special test equipment, the APG-73 can generate high resolution ground maps and make use of 'advanced' image correlation algorithms to enhance weapon designation accuracy.

Since 1992 the APG-73 has been operational in U.S. Navy & Marine Corps F/A-18C and D aircraft; early models of the U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet; and in the air forces of Finland, Switzerland, Malaysia, Canada, and Australia. A total of 932 APG-73 systems were delivered, with the final delivery in 2006 [1].

[edit] AN/APG-79

The APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar is a new development for the U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft, providing enhanced reliability and a high level of pilot situational awareness. The AESA radar has an exceptionally agile beam, providing nearly instantaneous track updates and enhanced multi-target tracking capability. Benefiting from the entirely solid-state antenna construction, the APG-79 features dramatically improved reliability and lower cost - indeed, such is the confidence that the antenna will need no attention other than for battle damage, a modified radome, which slides forward instead of hinging to the right, has been introduced for the F/A-18E/F, saving valuable space in aircraft carrier hangars, where the radome is often damaged during routine maintenance. The AN/APG-79 is compatible with current F/A-18 weapon loads and enables pilots to take full advantage of AIM-120 AMRAAM capabilities, simultaneously guiding multiple missiles to several targets widely spaced in azimuth, elevation or range.

The APG-79 radar completed formal operational evaluation (OPEVAL) testing in December 2006. As of January 2007 the radar was installed in 28 aircraft, and the first APG-79-equipped squadron is due to deploy by the end of fiscal year 2007. The Navy expects to order approximately 400 production radars.